What is there to Hate about Merlin?
by dreamofhome
Summary: This is the story of a young boy who makes a poor choice. Based on the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. Please enjoy!


What is there to Hate about Merlin?

The wealthiest student of Camelot High had somehow fallen in the eyes of his classmates. He went from being really popular to being totally hated. No one knew why, they just knew that Arthur was an ass, and that it would be better to avoid him as much as humanly possible. Only one person tolerated him and that girl couldn't really be called a friend because frankly, she frightened everyone just a tiny bit. She followed Arthur everywhere and she had a note sent home to her father forbidding her from entering the men's bathroom. She didn't care. But all this is beside the point, the point is, that that arrogant ass has a sister. Their father came up with a devious plan that declared that Morgana could only date once Arthur did. And Morgana is nothing like her brother, she is a woman more divine than all the angels and saints combined, she is . . . she is . . .

"Dangerous." Merlin remarked crossing his arms and looking down on his peer, a peer that was much taller.

"You don't know her." Leon exclaimed as he grabbed Merlin's bony shoulder, using more strength than he intended.

"It's Morgana Pendragon, who doesn't know her?" He glanced at Leon's hand and he let go in silent apology.

"Look, I need your help." Leon cleared his throat, "Will you help me?"

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Merlin could not prevent his curiosity from raising its head and stretching its back.

"Could you, you know, datearthur?"

"What?" He honestly did not understand what Leon had just asked; did he want him to eat Arthur?

"Go. Out. With. Arthur." Leon closed his eyes and waited with bated breath. Merlin watched him and let him hold his breath a little longer. He exhaled loudly. "God I'm sorry Merlin, you know what, forget it, it was a moment of craziness. Forgive me." He clapped him on the sore shoulder and turned to leave.

"Hold on," a mischievous smile grew, "What's in it for me?"

"You're actually considering doing it?" Leon's eyes widened and he looked like he was about to be executed by the arrow of love, he blinked, "No I couldn't ask this of you."

"You already have, so tell me, what will you do for me?" Merlin questioned reaching up and adjusting Leon's collar, though his shirt was already straight. The taller man gulped. Merlin's expression broke and he laughed. "Oh Leon you're adorable, really!" his laugh subsided, "Look if I'm going to take his royal prissiness out, I'm going to need some kind of pay back." He lifted his eyes to the ceiling as if deep in thought then snapping his fingers he brightened, "You could do my chores for the rest of the year, sound fair?" Leon nodded mute. He was so happy he could barely stand. Merlin jauntily walked down the hall as if a great weight had been lifted, no more cleaning the chalkboard and washing the desks and organizing the lost and found and so much more, he was free! All he had to do was trick Arthur Pendragon, which wouldn't be too difficult.

~0~

Leon and Merlin sat on the bleachers and watched Arthur run around on the football field. Merlin could not stop staring. Arthur became a totally different person, focused, intense and hot as hell, he briefly wondered why he never took an interest in him before. At that moment he passed the ball over to his co-captain and Merlin remembered. Lancelot. Merlin had harbored a crush on him last year, but he never did a thing about it. Lancelot was as straight as they come and Merlin did not wish to injure his own heart by confessing. Lancelot took the ball and made scoring look ridiculously easy. He smiled at Arthur and he in turn gave him a one-armed hug before they both ran back to their positions. They seemed close; Merlin leaned forward. Leon slapped him on the back snickering,

"So any ideas on how to woo our dear Arthur?" He asked, eyeing Merlin with delight.

"Not yet, but I'll handle this my own way, you don't need to chaperone."

"Please, this is too funny!"

"Leon, if you bother me, you won't get Morgana so kindly shove off."

"Okay, okay, but really thanks, you don't know how much this means to me-"

"Yeah, right." Merlin placed his chin on his hands and felt the wind rustle his hair a tad, the weather was beautiful, Arthur was beautiful, maybe he should call the whole thing off. No, he had spent far too much time doing chores, even for the upperclassmen and he was tired of it. He stood up as the practice ended and made his way over to Arthur, he could do this.

"Hey there!" He said cheerily and added a small wave.

Arthur looked up from rubbing his face with a towel, then bent to pick up a water bottle, completely ignoring him. "You played well." Merlin continued as if he had not been slighted.

"What do you want?" Arthur commanded after wiping his chin of any excess water.

"Hi, I'm Merlin, and you're Arthur, nice to meet you, don't you have any manners at all?" Merlin asked stepping closer to the angry athlete, he grinned to show that he was only kidding with him.

"Whatever it is, the answer is no." Arthur stated packing up his duffle bag and walking away. Merlin stood at a loss. He scratched the back of his head and wandered back to the school to grab his book bag, this may take a little longer than he thought.

~0~

The next morning, Merlin vowed to find and corner Arthur as soon as he could, but he was unable to find him until lunch. He was sitting alone as usual, not even Lancelot would deign to sit next to him, on the field they could be friendly, but outside of that, Lancelot stuck to his own crowd. Merlin thought it was strange, but that was high school for you, everyone putting their reputation above everything else. He sat down across from Arthur and tried smiling at him again; his mom always told him that was his best feature.

"You again!" He groaned.

"Yes, me." Merlin grinned wider and attempted to catch his eye. Arthur made to get up and Merlin immediately latched onto his arm, "Wait, wait, you haven't finished eating yet!"

"You've put me off my lunch." Arthur answered calmly and pulled at the hand that was still around his arm.

"Just hold on, would you?" Merlin panicked, suddenly feeling very desperate, he hated having to act this way. Surprisingly Arthur sat back down and Merlin released him from his near death grip.

"Who put you up to this?" Arthur sighed wearily.

"What?" Merlin's eyes grew big, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not an idiot, Merlin, you're here for a reason, so just tell me what it is so I can eat in peace."

"I'm here simply to enjoy the pleasure of your company." Merlin said, using a solemn tone, inwardly he marveled at how believable his voice sounded.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked in amusement, "Who talks like that?" He laughed softly and Merlin's face warmed.

"I do." They looked at each other as if they had just discovered a hole in the wall between them.

~0~

Leon went into the majority of his classes in a daze. He had overheard Morgana talking to one of her girlfriends, Sophia, maybe, asking her for a way to circumvent her father's new rule. Sophia giggled shrilly and said, "Why don't you just get him to take out Vivian? I'm sure she'd die from happiness." Morgana frowned; Arthur would never date his stalker. But she still considered her proposal, "Maybe not her, but someone else?" She arched a dark eyebrow and the two women laughed knowingly.

~0~

Merlin was walking on clouds, clouds of different colours, Arthur had laughed and chatted with him, as if they were lifelong pals, as if they were meant to be. Suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and he felt himself being pulled into a random alcove. His heart hammered, and the first thought that sprang to him was Arthur! He looked down into the cold green eyes of Arthur's sister. She put a finger to her lips in a gesture for silence.

"Morgana!" He gasped, and she placed a hand over his lips.

"Merlin." She whispered, "We don't have much time, but would you do me a favour?" She hissed into his ear. He narrowed his eyes, and she removed her hand from covering his mouth.

"What is this about?" He questioned, though he already knew what it might be.

"I need you to date my brother, just for a little while, I will pay you." She said tapping her pocket that held her wallet. For a moment Merlin was stunned.

"No." He said, voice firm.

"I saw you, you sat next to him at lunch, why?" She narrowed her own eyes and Merlin began to feel a little uneasy.

"He looked lonely." He mumbled.

"Merlin, come off it, no one hangs out with Arthur, not even me." A look of dawning understanding passed over her face, "No, there's something else isn't there Merlin?" Merlin felt anger and fear course through him. He didn't want her to know the truth; he didn't want her to tell Arthur.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything, this helps me after all." She smirked, and left him feeling like a rabbit that had narrowly avoided the jaws of a wolf. He shook his head, things could easily fall apart at this rate, but the friendship he had with Arthur was only just beginning and he didn't want to lose that.

~0~

"I quit." Leon moaned throwing his head down in his arms upon his desk. "I'll let you off the hook." He said with his face still down.

"You can't give up now." Merlin said. "Oh and you're cleaning tonight."

"Yes, yes." Leon sighed, "I'm going to hold up my end of the bargain."

"Good." Merlin cheered, he sat facing backward in his chair and began poking Leon in the back of his head. "Your hair's getting long." He idly commented. Leon's head shot up.

"Do you think I should cut it? Does Morgana like short hair?" He ran a hand over his slightly scruffy face, "Does she like beards?"

"How the hell should I know?" Merlin rolled his eyes, "But she did date Alvarr, remember?"

"Yeah, I'll keep it then." He said nodding. He smiled up at Merlin, "So how goes it with Arthur?"

"It's going well and we'll leave it at that." He turned in his chair and faced forward as the classroom began to quiet down for their professor had arrived.

~0~

Morgana kept a close eye on Merlin after that, and whenever she caught him looking back she would send him a small encouraging smile, it was a bit unnerving, to be sure. To make matters worse, he was starting to like Arthur quite a bit. Deep down, he wasn't the evil asshole that everyone hated, but he could actually be pretty nice and funny. Merlin decided that he would ask him to the spring dance for their first official date, and in so doing allow Leon to stop lollygagging and ask the Lady Morgana.

~0~

Morgana went to the dance with an extremely proud Leon on her arm, but she immediately left him for Cenred, the kind of man that no father wished to see with his daughter. Leon felt hurt and betrayed but remained in the gym turned ballroom, and he danced with a few young women who were single, and he drank a ton of punch. Merlin was having a grand time, spinning Arthur and being spun in return, they were all over the place and they didn't care that they were being stared at, or that they bumped into several other couples, or that Vivian was standing against the wall and bawling her eyes out creating heavy black tear marks down her face. They were there to relax and have fun and that is exactly what they would do! But Cenred had to be a total wanker, he tapped Merlin on the shoulder grinning lasciviously and hugging Morgana to his side he planted a sloppy kiss to her neck, "I really ought to thank you Merlin," He shouted over the music. "No one else could have tamed the wild beast like you have! Morgana sure knows how to pick'em, I swear, she must have paid you a fortune!" Arthur froze and Merlin took a swing at Cenred who dodged it even in his drunken state. Morgana pulled him away and with one fleeting apologetic look over her shoulder they disappeared into the crowd.

"What did he mean?" Arthur asked, then he screamed, "What did he mean!"

"Arthur, listen to me, it's not what you think."

"You were paid by my own sister, I can't believe this!" He grabbed chunks of his own golden hair, "I trusted you."

"Please Arthur!" Merlin could not get through to him; Arthur punched him right in the nose and then fled, leaving Merlin on the floor trying to stem the blood flow. Leon crouched next to him and handed him a napkin.

"It's over." Merlin said darkly, "It's all over." Leon pulled him up by the arm, and they walked out feeling miserable, guilty, and as if they probably deserved this turn of events.

~0~

Arthur ignored Merlin's calls, he ignored him in class, and he brushed him off at lunch. He didn't ever want to see Merlin's face again, but at the same time, he missed him terribly. He confronted Morgana at home the following evening, and she claimed she never gave Merlin a single coin. This only served to confuse him and he still did not trust her, she must have been behind Merlin's actions, why else had he been so nice to him, so sweet, and utterly charming? Merlin had shown up like a beacon of hope only to turn out to be just like all the others who had betrayed him and treated him like a fool. He wanted to hate Merlin with all his might, but it was impossible.

~0~

Merlin was writing a poem, a love poem, and it was bloody awful. He crumpled it up and threw it in the rubbish bin. There was no way he was ever going to give it to Arthur.

~0~

Vivian had seen Merlin dancing with Arthur and she had seen Arthur's radiant smile shining with pure affection. She was no stranger to rummaging through garbage bins and so she read the note and cocked her head with a curious expression.

~0~

Leon was prepared to die, Morgana had abandoned him, he had used Merlin and hurt both him and Arthur. He was not expecting for an arm to slide across his shoulders and drag him to a coffee shop in the middle of the afternoon. The arm belonged to Lancelot. He sat Leon down with a cup of hot chocolate and asked him to tell him what was going on. According to Lancelot, Arthur was off his game, and he would not lose the rest of the season just because _somebody_ was pining after Morgana. Leon stared in astonishment, how did Lancelot know so much?

~0~

Morgana combed her fingers through her hair and hummed. She was not certain if she liked Cenred and truth be told Leon was not a half bad looking bloke, she just never considered the 'nice guy' before. Then again, Leon was not so very nice after all, was he? She smiled to herself sending Lancelot a text message.

~0~

Arthur gaped at the note in his hand, Vivian delivered it but it was not written in her hand. The note was short and cheesy and absolutely terrible, but it was from Merlin, and he loved every word.

~0~

Merlin discovered Arthur sitting on the front of his blue car waiting patiently. Merlin slowed but bravely moved forward.

"You're the biggest idiot, I've ever met, Merlin." Merlin sighed hanging his head. "You complain, you lie, you steal my food, you never brush your hair, you scream like a girl, you wear stupid scarves and ugly boots, you have the attention span of a goat, and you're complete rubbish at writing."

"How-" Merlin did not have the chance to finish his question as he was taken by surprise by a swift kiss.


End file.
